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#100sareepact

A printed silk/cotton (Tussar family says Anil ji at Pitamabri) it’s vibrant blue setting off the rather sober black geometrical designs on the plain , dull body colour of the Saree.,perfect for the conference I am attending this week in Bangkok and the blue is also the colour of Max so…
This is our annual Asia Pacific conference to which our Patient Advocates come from all,over the region and for two and a half days are busy networking with each other and learning the latest updates about their cancer and its treatment from the best oncologists . Sessions are held on other matters of relevance like capacity building and fund raising and there is not a moment that is not optimised. Old friends and peers catch up and you have to be there to see and believe the positive energies that fill every minute of the time spent together .
The day begins with breakfast together with all the delegates and I realised if I needed my Saree Pact picture before the sessions began , I would have to sneak away and get it over and done with real fast . Stepping out of the hotel to get some city scape into the photograph , our eyes fell on the famous Bangkok Tuk Tuks lined up by the kerbside. Sudha , my colleague who had volunteered to be the Pact Photographer of the day was smitten by the brightly coloured Tuk Tuks and we had our pictures .
Udamo, the young Tuk Tuk driver had absolutely no qualms about letting this strange Indian woman drape herself over his machine and was in fact most helpful suggesting I even sit on the Dr Ivor’s seat. Sudha of course kept saying how the colours of the Tuk Tuk went so well with my Saree.
Udam , I found out was almost 50 ( Thai men especially look so much younger than they actually are) and had been plying the Tuk Tuk in the streets of Bangkok for more than 25 years. He came from far away Chiang Mei and was happy earning. His living in the city and supporting his family back home. Home which he went to maybe twice a year. Sounded so much like our taxi and auto rickshaw drivers back home .
And so the day began with a presentation on my Chai for Cancer initiative as a precursor to the day long Workshop on Fund Raising and I enjoyed sharing this unique project with the group. Tea breaks and Lunch meant more networking and lots of pictures taken so we could always have these precious memories once we were all back in our home countries .
This was a special meeting because a rather special person was attending it . Someone I hadn’t seen in a long time , someone very dear to me , who I work very closely with and who had collaborated with me on the book I had written a couple of years ago. Maximo and the Big C .
In fact it was another similar Rising Sun meeting four years or so ago, that Fan and Pat and I had sat and over a cup of coffee and began discussions on the book that would spearhead our Maximise Life Campaign. Fan, my muse , our real life Maximo who breathed colour and life into the book by creating Maximo and his whole beautiful , courageous world and filled it with hope and love. Fan who has faced that diagnosis of cancer and prevailed over it and is now a proud husband and devoted father to his own little son who is as talented as he is and a budding little artist. Fan who put all fears and misgivings and did not let cancer and its continued treatment. and assault on his life come in the way of his living. It meant giving up a well loved job, relocating to another city with lesser prospects and uprooting his beloved wife from a settled routine. But he knew it had to be done. And he was determined to share his experience at every possible chance so other patients would not fear the disease nor be defeated by the stigma and discrimination it brought in its wake . Fan would talk to the media and speak at patient group meetings , exhorting hai peers to face the situation in their lives and take charge . Like Maximo. Looking inwards for the tools to fight the fear with . And emerge free and strong with hope and courage as wings to fly on.
So here’s Fan and I doing a special Maximo pose for the Saree Pact. Taking wing and flying together . Thank you Fan for your love and your inspiration . Always